quotidian
adjective
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In William Shakespeare's play As You Like It, the character Rosalind observes that Orlando, who has been running about in the woods carving her name on trees and hanging love poems on branches, "seems to have the quotidian of love upon him." The Bard's use doesn't make it clear that quotidian comes from a Latin word, quotidie, which means "every day." But as odd as it may seem, his use of quotidian is just a short semantic step away from the "daily" adjective sense. Some fevers come and go but occur daily; in medical use, these are called "quotidian fevers" or simply "quotidians." Poor Orlando is afflicted with such a "fever" of love.
Synonyms
Examples of quotidian in a Sentence
Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 21 June 2024
While the setting may be humble, Margolin captures the unlikely beauty of the Valley, and injects thrilling suspense into this yarn, one that transforms quotidian dramas — like making an unprotected left turn, or closing pop-up ads on a webpage — into nail-biting action sequences.
—Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2024
The new film follows, through calm, quotidian wide shots, the daily life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his family.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024
For something as simple, quotidian, as throwing a ball, we were forced to spend countless hours doing it.
—Andrew Reiner, Baltimore Sun, 16 June 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Quotidian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quotidian. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
quotidian
1 of 2 adjective
quotidian
2 of 2 noun
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